Chinese Food in the Roosevelt Room
by BlackEyedGirl
Summary: Josh, who had sent Sam to California with a smile, was the one who had encouraged CJ to leave a goat in the office. Will was a little puzzled by that. Just a little conversation between Will and Josh about Sam, set in S4


**Title:** Chinese Food in the Roosevelt Room  
**Fandom:** The West Wing  
**Characters:** Josh and Will, talking about Sam  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Genre:** Drama/Friendship  
**Length:** 1,700 words  
**Disclaimer:** All belongs to Sorkin and Wells.  
**Spoilers:** S1-4, but especially S4  
**Summary:** Josh, who had sent Sam to California with a smile, was the one who had encouraged CJ to leave a goat in the office. Will was a little puzzled by that.

**AN:** For **scrollgirl**, in **twwminis** who requested: _Set in Season 4, a discussion with or about Sam._ And did not want: _No Josh/Donna. No over-the-top angst.  
_

* * *

JOSH: Someone said, "The best argument against democracy is five minutes with the average voter."  
WILL: Churchill. He also said "Democracy is the worst form of government."  
JOSH: See.  
WILL: "Except for all the others."  
JOSH: I know the end of the quote. I'll work with you on the legislative section. But after the vote, okay? We'll get some food.  
- Guns not Butter 

And this is what happened

- - - - - - 

"Will?"

"Yeah?"

"Legislative section?" Josh asked, peering through the open office door. It was kind of hard to see – the room was made dimmer by the posters of Sam blocking out the windows. But he thought Will looked surprised.

"Oh. You actually meant that. I thought you were just trying to stop me bothering you."

"Well... there may have been an element of that. But never let it be said that I'm a man who doesn't keep my word."

"Donna said..."

"Do you want to get some food and talk about the legislative section, or do you want to repeat the no doubt scurrilous gossip my assistant has been feeding you?"

"I can actually do both at once."

"Come on."

"Come on where?"

"Roosevelt room."

"We're going to the Roosevelt Room to eat Chinese food?"

"It's a tradition long in the making."

Josh headed out of the bullpen, knowing Will would follow him out of curiosity if nothing else. What he didn't know was how to make this seem normal. Josh wasn't sure how to make small-talk with Will Bailey. He knew that he was the son of someone in the army (from Donna) and that he could write (from Toby, indirectly, when he didn't send Will on his merry way). And that Will had more faith in voters than Josh, or at least was willing to argue the point.

"So, your office has stopped being full of goats?" he tried, while they walked from Will's office to the Roosevelt room.

"_Full_ is perhaps overstating the problem. But yes."

"Toby talked to them?"

Will looked disbelieving. "To CJ?"

Josh laughed, "Yeah, CJ's not going to listen."

"She told me that you and Toby put her up to it."

"There's an element of truth in that." He paused, looking for an explanation beyond the petty and not finding one. "You're in Sam's office!"

Will threw Josh a puzzled look.

"What?" Josh asked.

"Didn't you _send_ Sam to the 47th?"

"The White House? He volunteered, the staff encouraged him." Well, Josh and CJ had encouraged him. Toby hadn't been quite so strongly in favour at the time. Probably because he had an Inaugural Address to write. Though he had Will now and was still looking a bit off-colour.

"I heard... different," Will replied hesitantly.

"From Sam?"

"... yes?"

Josh paused, momentarily stung by the implication. "What did he tell you?"

"Well... he was blaming me, so this is actually..."

"What did he say?"

"That you encouraged him."

Which was true. And why not? Sam had put his own name in the hat, it wasn't as if Josh had been trying to get rid of him. He was being a good friend, that was all. And if Sam's situation had happened to coincide with the Democratic Party being a little pissed at the President for not helping them take back the House, well that was good too. He wouldn't have told Sam he should do it if he had thought it was a bad idea for his friend. But Will was looking at him as if he had thrown Sam out of the West Wing without a life-jacket.

"He volunteered!" Josh said.

"I know that," Will answered, "I was the one he did the volunteering to. But he never expected to need to do it."

"I never expected him to want to win."

"What?"

"He was running around like the thing was a death-sentence. But, being Sam, of course he couldn't just say no. Because he had promised. I didn't want him to do it because he was never going to win and we all knew that. But then Amy said about the other thing, and he could have it both ways. Keep his promise, and have a good reason for running for election where the Democrat never wins. We leak that after the loss – the noble sacrifice angle – and everything's fine again. But now he's talking about winning."

"You don't think he can do it?"

"No. And neither did he. This was an issues thing. A... a way to tell people that we care about these races, and so he could talk about things that don't get talked about in Orange County. And maybe run it close, prove that it can be done one day. But now..."

"So he loses." Will answered casually. "He comes back here - I finally get to go to Europe."

"But he loses and he wanted to win. That... have you seen Toby?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Toby lost pretty much every race he'd ever worked on before this one. And he, maybe, just maybe now, after the Primaries and two Presidential wins, sometimes thinks we might not lose. And for someone like Sam..."

"Someone like Sam?"

"You know - Sam."

"Dedicated?"

"Naïve."

"Sam isn't naïve."

"No offence, but I've known Sam just a little bit longer than you have. He's a great guy; I love him like a brother. But he gets... carried away."

"So does the President. So does Toby, so do you. And I've known Sam for not very long, but I could have told you that he would want to win the election. He's the kind of guy who comes down to California to tell me to end the campaign and ends up offering me his name to give to a widow. He wants to do the right thing, and that starts with winning this election."

"He isn't going to win." Josh repeated, because Will seemed to be missing the point.

"I know. But he'll get it next time. He's one of the big names in the party, all four of you are. He wins next time. And you already know that..." he trailed off, as if he had just realised something.

"Yeah, I do."

"You're not worried that he's not going to win this election. You're worried that if he loses he won't want to run again."

"Do you know what it took to get Sam to Washington?" Josh asked. Already thinking back to pouring rain and Sam's bright incredulous smile when he saw Josh at the window. And the conversation before that, when he could not get Sam to leave that job that was destroying him for anything less than perfect.

Will shook his head. Maybe he didn't know Sam quite that well then.

"I came to his law firm and told him I had the real thing. He just walked out and followed me to New Hampshire. We've been doing this ever since. I knew, the first day I met Sam, that he was something else. I've been prepping this. And then he just runs off and..."

"... and you let him?"

"I _encouraged _him. Because he's supposed to end up doing this. And a loss in Orange County isn't a great start, but it's where he grew up and if he looks like he's doing it as a gesture to the base, then we get past it. If he looks like he wants to win it and doesn't... I don't know if just coming to get him'll work twice."

"He's coming back here."

"Yeah, I don't know." Josh shrugged.

Will said, "That's supposed to be the plan."

"Every time I talk to him he's telling me the good he could do in California." Sam had stopped sounding like someone whose head was in Washington weeks ago. When Josh and him spoke, the conversations always finished on some tense note. Sam killing any notion that this might not be winnable. Acting like he had to appease the people with him now because he would need them later. "That, and refusing to let me fire his campaign manager. I don't know if he'll leave again."

"And then what happens to the grand plan? You'll get him back, Josh. Maybe he'll take a hit and stay there for a while. But I've read his speeches, and I've watched him when he talks. He's not naïve, Josh, he's just hopeful. He'll come back when he's done, and then you can implement your plans for world domination."

"I sense that you may be mocking me."

"You don't trust the voters, Josh."

"No, because they're about to make a really big mistake. I mean, Sam? They won't elect _Sam_? They should be over the moon that someone like him even turned up to run in their town!"

"Yeah. But maybe the American public as a whole will see things differently."

"I didn't say that..."

"No, but where else would the two of you go? I don't really see you micro-managing Senate races after this, and Sam's meant for bigger pictures than the California 47th."

Josh smiled. "Sam said you were smart."

"Really?"

"Well, he said you were a good writer, which is pretty high praise from him. And Toby lets you use Sam's office, so he must like you a lot. It was me, by the way, not so much Toby. With the goats. And bicycles and that stuff. I mean, Toby was involved, but it was..."

Will grinned, a sudden wry motion across his face, "Yes, I did think as much."

"You really thought I didn't mean it when I said we'd talk about the legislative section?"

"I had assumed, given that you don't like me very much."

"I like you fine."

"Well, now I know that. So - legislative section?"

"One minute." Josh pulled out his cell. "What do you feel like?"

"We're really going to eat Chinese food in the Roosevelt room?"

"It's a rite of passage. If you're going to stick around a while, you need to get used to it." Will looked as though he might be about to interrupt. "No pressure, but people that Toby can work with are few and far between. And as one of them has gone to California, I wouldn't be against the notion of you borrowing his office for a little while."

Will looked down at his notes. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now, food, and then we can go back to arguing about the stupidity of the average voter."

* * *

FIN. Comments are always nice. 


End file.
